RomanPunks is a retrofuturistic, cyberpunk derivative world-building project inspired by fine art, history and the cryptopunk movement.
A total of 1,000 RomanPunk characters have been frozen in time and minted as Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum, WAX, Polygon and Algorand blockchains.
RomanPunk characters are comprised of commoners and famous individuals based on Roman history, art history and pop culture.
The basis for RomanPunk lore and backstories is exhaustively researched by history/sci-fi buff and co-founder, Punktavian.
All images are drawn by hand by woman artist and co-founder, Cleopunktra, without the aid of AI or generative tools.
RomanPunks came into existence through early minting on OpenSea, promoting on Twitter and building a Discord community through giveaways and engagement. The idea of a cyberpunk-derivative ‘RomanPunk’ theme was in our heads for years, but it was the success of the Cryptopunks that became the catalyst for project conception and launch.
After a hard working first 60 days spent networking and attracting new collectors to RomanPunks, our community had begun to flourish and sales increased. We began to offer our collectors an opportunity to battle their NFTs in a tournament bracket powered by dice rolls.
Encouraged by the tight knit community and the carbon-neutral blockchain with lightning fast and low cost transactions, we launched 'romanpunksio' collection on WAX Blockchain as the first step to expand the backstories of our RomanPunk characters and the baseline for future development of a card game.
RomanPunks integrated with Chainlink Labs to utilize VRF (Verified Randomness Function) to host a giveaway raffle for our holders. We developed a smart contract on Ethereum which guarantees true random number selection on chain and can be used for a wide range of functions that require random selection.
After much anticipation in the community, we released our first WAX NFT card 'pack' through the Neftyblocks platform, which sold out in less than a week.
We launched our Twitch channel and begun building an audience by offering numerous giveaways of WAX NFTs from our collection, as well as giving participants a chance to win RomanPunk ETH NFT airdrops for taking top spot at the end of the 'season'.
As firm believers in a metaverse future and land owners in The Sandbox, we undertook to build the RomanPunk Colosseum on 1x1 land and entered our experience "Gladiator Bloodsport" into a GameJam contest. We will continue to build the Colosseum into a PVP arena and social hub once The Sandbox offers creators the ability to do so.
Thanks to the user friendly tools offered by NeftyBlocks, we launched a comprehensive blending system on WAX, allowing our collectors to blend the common NFTs they earn in our Discord RPG up into Legendary famous NFTs through the use of blending 'coins' that can also be earned on the Discord as reward for helping to promote the RomanPunks project.
We launched the VX collection on Polygon. Each owner of an ETH NFT gets their voxel equivalent airdropped to them, and these NFTs can be redeemed for official NFTs on The Sandbox Marketplace once available.
All 1,000 original, unique 1:1 RomanPunk characters hand drawn by Cleopunktra and minted on OpenSea.
The RomanPunk WAX NFT Trading Card Fighter Pack Series II consists of 3 NFTs randomly selected from over 236 characters.
Upcoming plans for RomanPunks include:
Below is a comprehensive and searchable directory of all 1,000 RomanPunk Characters.
Born 315 AD in Aksum, Zosimus was cast into an interdimensional portal as a child sacrifice to the gods. Now he resides on the Roman Exocolony Proxima Centauri where his athletic prowess have allowed him to catapult to the top of the Celestial Badminton League (CBL) standings where he remains undefeated after seven hundred sanctioned singles matches.
Born 1972 AD in Larissa, Teren was a videographer hired to shoot a routine military transport—until his footage captured something the Empire couldn’t allow to exist. Scrubbed from the records and marked for deletion, he fled with the raw files and a camera too old to track. Now he drifts between safehouses, haunted by what he filmed and unsure whether he’s chasing justice or just trying to prove he still exists.
Born 141 AD in Burdigala, Lur, an acolyte of the Bishop of Lyon, called out Emperor Marcus Aurelius’ stoic philosophy as heresy and was condemned to toil in the wheat fields as punishment. Despite the enslavement, Lur found solace in his love for animals and the teachings of Jesus Christus.
Born 130 BC in Cirta, Afer is a grain farming pleb who was visited by a clone of himself from the future and given the recipe for sour mash whiskey, the mass production of which made him rich and famous and provided the liquid courage needed for the Roman legions to triumph in countless battles.
Born 2182 AD in Naissus, Rada runs an antique photo booth shop in Neo-Carthage’s souk. Armed with a vintage Hasselblad and a closet of outfits spanning millennia, she offers customers a chance to step into another era. But rumors swirl that her collection isn’t just for show—some say she holds a device for interdimensional travel, turning her shop into a refuge for outlaws, exiles, and time-stranded wanderers. Rada remains as inscrutable as her wares, guarding her secrets behind a wry smile and a haze of smoke.
Born 139 AD in Tarsus, Balacrus is as staunch defender of Roman interests in his native Cilicia. Upon learning of a planetary alien and cyborg invasion, Balacrus enlisted in Marcus Aurelius’ interdimensional task force to protect his native Earth from the extraterrestrial scourge.
Born 181 AD in Adrianople, Groucho is a stand-up comedian and estranged brother of Emperor Maximinus who travels interdimensionally to lampoon political leaders in the public forum, only to disappear through a portal before he can be arrested.
Born in 358 AD in Brigantium, Spubler is a florist turned soldier who passed through a portal in the Tower of Hercules to the 12th century AD where he fought a guerilla campaign against the Moors who disavowed the cultivation of roses.
Born 240 AD in Durocortorum, Bert was loyal to the breakaway Gallic Empire which lost to Emperor Aurelian at the Battle of Châlons in 274. Refusing to capitulate, he was sent to battle in the gladiator pits of Rome.
Born in 266 BC on the coast of the Black Sea, Belinda is an Amazonian warrior who portaled to the women-dominated 28th century AD to battle aliens and cyborgs in a futuristic cybercolosseum.
Born 2159 AD in Luxor-Thebes, Tim is a battle-hardened mercenary centurion, veteran of the brutal Dacian Vampire Wars and direct descendant of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. Now, he fights for the Nabataean Red Sands Syndicate, backing a cloned Hannibal Barca’s insurrection against Neo-Carthage’s corrupt governor and the cyborg Emperor Caligula. Leading a ragtag crew of gladiators and charioteers, Tim helps orchestrate the siege on Neo-Carthage, while Hannibal’s underground forces sow chaos within the city. Guided by profit, Tim’s loyalty is always to the highest bidder, making him a dangerous yet predictable player in the uprising.
Born 197 BC in Nikonion, Joe was born a slave, toiling in the vast wheat fields of the steppe until one day he saved his master’s life by killing a Pontic magistrate who had come to arrest and execute him for tax evasion. Freed, now Joe lives life on the run.
Born 311 AD in Mediolanum, in a steampunk parallel universe, Gnaeus is a wealthy industrialist who schemes to undermine the corrupt Emperor Constantius II by providing dirigibles and steam chariots to the burgeoning Aztec Empire so that they may reclaim the western hemisphere from the grip of Roman hegemony.
Born 50 BC in Gordium, as a young woman Xyria was kidnapped by time traffickers to serve as a hostess in a 26th century karaoke bar in Neo-Byzantium where she learned how to make a living trading secrets.
Born 150 BC in Pella, Myrta, daughter of the last independent king of Macedon, boldly claims lineage from the mother of Alexander the Great. Emulating her tyrannical father, the pretender known as ‘Pseudo-Philip’, Myrta leads a mysterious cult with interdimensional powers, summoning extraterrestrial beings to aid her quest of terror and repression to reclaim her ‘ancestral’ Macedonian throne.
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